Here waiting for the sunrise, gazing from the hill.
Again ’tis at morning—a heavy haze contends with daybreak.
Again the trembling, laboring vessel veers me—we press through foam-dash’d rocks that almost touch.
Again I, turning, mark where aft the small, thin Indian helmsman
Looms in the mist, with brow elate and governing hand—
THE FIGHT AT DIAMOND ISLAND
Standing upon one of the heights near the head or southern end of Lake George, the tourist looks down on the placid waters, and sees at his feet a little island covered with verdure, and glowing like an emerald in the summer sheen. This is Diamond Island,[28] one of the best known of the many exquisite isles that gem the little inland sea.
From time immemorial it has borne its present name, derived from the exquisite crystals with which the underlying rock abounds. Here is the scene of the fight which took place on this lake, September 24, 1777, an occurrence that appears to have been purposely overlooked by the Americans at the time, and which has since failed to find a chronicler.[29]
But before proceeding to give the narrative of this event it may be well to speak of several other points, and to make a brief statement of the military situation at that time.